Attawapiskat vote puts liquid-dieter Theresa Spence’s leadership to the test

OTTAWA – Band council elections today at the Attawapiskat First Nation will put Theresa Spence’s leadership to the test.

Spence is best known outside the northern Ontario community for subsisting on only fish broth and tea for six weeks as a form of protest during the rise of the Idle No More movement.

The Idle No More cause, which began in December and January, was a protest against the Conservative government’s omnibus Bill C-45.

First Nations groups claimed the bill threatened their treaty rights set out in the Constitution.

But Spence’s protest also drew unfavourable attention to Attawapiskat with the release of a scathing audit of the band’s books that found a missing paper trail for millions of dollars between 2005 and 2011.

The troubled reserve is widely known for the housing crisis that prompted a state of emergency in the winter of 2011 and set off lingering tensions with the federal government.